“This is the Blackbird Killer.He’s the one who likes explosives.”My mind is working, putting things together.“He’s the protégé BK told me about.Both times, it was him rigging the warehouses to blow.”
“You’re sure?”Mina asks.
I close my eyes and feel the situation.“BK had help.Not just Burgess.Someone else.His student.”BK is dead, but there’s still a second killer out there.
I open my eyes to find Hamish peering at me, his eyes dark under his bushy brows.
“This is a message to me,” I say.“We have to find Rex.”
“We have contacts in the morgue,” Hamish says.“I’ve checked with them.There’s no sign of Rex.”
“He’s not there?”I ask.
“He got there around two a.m.but left soon after.”
Rex went to the morgue to track down the missing body.If he had a lead, he’d follow it.So where did he end up?What clues would he have found?
“I’ll keep digging,” Mina says, and I thank her.
Hamish is on the call with someone, barking orders.
I stare at the TV screen, letting my thoughts wander.I keep thinking about the warehouse where I faced BK.The first floor, where he tied up the family.
The family...
“Hamish,” I ask suddenly.“How is Ted’s family?”
He looks puzzled.
“The family that was tied up?”I explain.“The ones Victor got out.”
“The Walker family?They’re safe.They were admitted to New Rome Central Hospital and are staying in the private Roy wing there.Rex ordered them to be provided with bodyguards and access to excellent psychiatric care.There seem to be no lingering physical effects.”
“How were they drugged?”
“Some sort of gas.”
Gas is what Rex liked to use to incapacitate his victims.
Something else nags at me.“Did you say the Walker family?”
“Yes.”
“I thought Ted said it was his brother?Wouldn’t they have the same last name?”
Hamish frowns.“I could be wrong, but I don’t believe Ted is a relative at all.”
My insides quake.This is a lead, and I’m afraid of where it will take us.“We need to find out.”
We recontact Mina, who confirms it.“No relation between Ted Raider and the Walker family.No obvious contact between them, either.”
“But...”My thoughts are coming slowly.It feels like I’m moving through murky water, swimming toward the light.“Ted told me BK had taken his family.That’s why I snuck out of the hotel in the first place.Why else would he try to lure me out?”
Hamish visibly recoils.
“Holy Sith,” Mina breathes.
We’re all coming to the same conclusion.I feel it like a weight in my bones.
